


Sixteen (Or Seventeen) Candles

by SEpupppupp (ForNought)



Series: morning meal association [1]
Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Birthday, Gen, Pettiness, a few cameos - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 23:43:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13623966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForNought/pseuds/SEpupppupp
Summary: Haknyeon is very precious about his birthday considering last year all he could do to celebrate was eat jelly in his next-door neighbours' living room and wait for his sister to come home from work. When a kid in the year below claims that 9th of March is his birthday Haknyeon is not happy at all!





	Sixteen (Or Seventeen) Candles

**Author's Note:**

> the last of the fics posted in this long week!!!
> 
> i was supposed to post a different fic and then this one tomorrow but that didn't pan out haha. it is haknyeon and hwall's birthday in korea now so whatever it works

“What's the matter with you?” Longguo asks after meeting Haknyeon at the school gates to walk home. The thing is Longguo doesn't sound like he cares at all and his slouching shoulders and hands shoved into his pockets don't convince Haknyeon otherwise. But Longguo is the sort of friend who will put up with Haknyeon's complaining so he freely gets his complaints off his chest.

“There's this kid at school and he stole my birthday.”

“He stole your birthday,” Longguo repeats.

“Yes!” Haknyeon says emphatically. It is alright for Longguo. Nobody stole his birthday and even though it was the first day of school it was nice because Haknyeon was invited to eat and play games and try to convince Longguo to socialise with people other than his cats.

It wouldn't have even mattered if someone did steal Longguo’s birthday because all he cares about is making sure there is special cake so his cats can join in the celebrations too. Sangyeon only had to order the pet-friendly cake and bring party hats and Longguo would have thought it was the best birthday ever. What Sangyeon actually did was order two pet-friendly cakes, bring party hats, decorate the whole flat he shares with Longguo and throw a surprise party. He could have saved himself the trouble and earnt the same unconvincing smile as a thanks.

Haknyeon is nothing like Longguo. Haknyeon likes birthdays he likes cake and presents and people telling him what a lovely young man he is becoming each year. He also likes to remind people that the entirety of March is  _his_ month (Longguo gracefully allowed Haknyeon to claim the whole month because he doesn't care much for birthdays at all) and especially the 9th of March is all for him and also Kim Taeyeon. Seeing as Haknyeon doesn't personally know Girls’ Generation's Taeyeon and she is also very famous and wonderful he doesn't mind how big her celebrations are.

Even if Kim Taeyeon had the whole of Korea celebrating her birthday Haknyeon wouldn't mind because she deserves it unlike that kid who pushed past Sunwoo as they were talking about Haknyeon's Lowkey Grown-up Get Together and levelled a glare at Haknyeon to say, “That's my birthday.”

Haknyeon decided in an instant that he didn't like that kid.

“How did he steal your birthday?” Longguo asks.

Haknyeon isn’t too sure about that. If the kid really does have the same birthday the only conclusion is that he was born. But lots of people are born every single day. Heo Hyunjoon was not only born but he claimed that it was his birthday as though Haknyeon wasn’t also born on the same day (an entire year earlier) as a blessing upon his family.

“He just did,” Haknyeon huffs. “I hate him! How dare he steal my birthday? I was just talking about my party with Sunwoo and this kid from his class attacked me and told me it was  _his_ birthday!”

Longguo frowns. “What if it is his birthday?”

“So what if it is his birthday?” Haknyeon grumbles. He kicks at the pavement and thinks he hears something very suspicious. Longguo is taller than Haknyeon but he probably weighs even less. There is no reason for Haknyeon’s ears to have been picking out such heavily defined footfalls on the walk home from school even over the sounds of traffic and the people walking around them. Someone wants to get caught. He stops and Longguo looks confused as he pauses too.

Haknyeon turns around quickly so that the pursuer (who is brazen enough to walk very closely behind Haknyeon as though that person is his shadow) has no chance to escape. When Haknyeon stops spinning so wildly on the street he doesn't think that Hyunjoon looks much like he wants to escape anyway.

“Stop talking about me!” Hyunjoon shouts. Longguo flinches and instantly shoots Haknyeon a disappointed look. Hyunjoon’s cheeks are red and the corners of his mouth are downturned as he crows, “I didn’t attack you!”

Hyunjoon can say what he likes but Haknyeon felt very attacked when Hyunjoon interrupted Haknyeon happily telling his friends that there will be a dress-code because it is a grown-up function befitting a mature seventeen year old.

Longguo looks at Haknyeon and says, “Did you tell a fib about being attacked?”

“My sensibilities were attacked!” Haknyeon wails. “It’s my birthday!”

Someone passing by with their friends suddenly stops next to Haknyeon and smiles at him. It is a very nice smile and he looks to be about Haknyeon’s age but Haknyeon is very annoyed so he only feels a little bit bad about the disgruntled frown he supplies in return. The boy hefts his backpack higher onto his shoulder and dips his hand into his pocket and passes Haknyeon a handful of boiled sweets that glisten bright fruity colours through the cellophane wrapping.

“Happy birthday,” the boy says.

Haknyeon looks down at the sweets in his hand and passes back a green one, which is very kind because Haknyeon likes the green ones, and he says, “My birthday isn’t today. It is on Wednesday.”

The boy shrugs and smiles. “Happy birthday for five days time. I probably won’t see you again but someone so cute shouldn’t be sad on their birthday.”

Haknyeon isn’t sure what to do. This is very different to his friends calling him cute because he asks them to. He opens and closes his mouth but no sound comes out - of course it wouldn’t if Haknyeon doesn’t have anything to say, and before he can make his brain work and actually try to be cute the boy is told to hurry up or be late for taekwondo practice.

The sweets are still in Haknyeon’s hand and they look very pretty. He decides to save them for his birthday because they will taste even better that way. He is glad he makes that decision because it wouldn’t have been nice at all to eat a nice sweet that a nice boy gave him only to have the sweetness crumble sourly as he hears, “See, today can be your birthday and Wednesday can be mine.”

This isn’t a good deal at all. Haknyeon definitely hates this kid, even more so now that this skinny kid’s fat head is obscuring the love of Haknyeon’s life as he jogs down the street to catch up with his friends. Haknyeon has already forgotten the name he heard and he thinks this extra layer of irritation is justified.

“You can't have a birthday at all!” Haknyeon says hotly. “On Wednesday I am going to have fun with my friends after school because it is my birthday and you can mind your own business.”

Hyunjoon frowns at this. He looks at Longguo for a moment and frowns even harder. “Why does everyone need to celebrate your birthday? Is that your boyfriend? You can just spend the day with him and then Sunwoo and Eric can eat cake with me.”

“He's not my boyfriend,” Haknyeon grouses. He suddenly remembers the boy with the sweets from before and wonders whether he incorrectly assumed the same thing. Haknyeon wants to find that boy and tell him that he is very very single but open to that changing, but already he can't remember precisely what the boy looks like aside from probably handsome and the love of Haknyeon's life so it isn't a good plan. Instead he frowns back at Hyunjoon so that he knows how annoying he is. “He's twice my age.”

“I'm three years older than you,” Longguo reminds Haknyeon unnecessarily.

“That sounds about right,” Hyunjoon snaps. Then he gives Longguo a small smile. “You're very handsome.”

Longguo looks mildly disturbed at being directly addressed by a stranger with such a thing. He shoots Haknyeon a wary look before smiling uncomfortably at Hyunjoon. “Thank you. You… don't look awful.”

Longguo sounds entirely unconvincing and couldn't even come up with something nicer to say so there is absolutely no reason for Hyunjoon’s face to draw up into a pretty smile as though he has heard something nice. He looks oddly genuine as he replies, “That is so kind of you to say.”

Longguo isn't very subtle with his gesture to move away from Hyunjoon but unfortunately he doesn't intend to run away from him forever and say something actually nice to Haknyeon. Once barely out of earshot he says, “Haknyeon, you're not going to let a kid that cute share your birthday?”

 

***

 

So that is how on Wednesday 9th of March Haknyeon finds himself sitting on the sofa in Sangyeon and Longguo’s flat, surrounded by the decorations recycled from Longguo’s birthday, and resolutely not sulking as people give presents to Hyunjoon.

“Can you cheer up?” Sangyeon sighs as he sits next to Haknyeon. “Look at how much effort I went through to make this a nice party!”

“You just left the decorations up for a week, I'm not stupid,” Haknyeon grumbles. Hyunjoon is blissfully unaware of this fact and is smiling happily and standing next to Sunwoo while thanking Lee Ahin for coming to the party. He can’t possibly even know who she is seeing as they have only been attending the same school for a week and Hyunjoon is a whole year younger than everyone else here so Haknyeon feels even more annoyed.

And now it is a party. Haknyeon's very sophisticated Lowkey Grown-Up Get Together has been hijacked and turned into a kids party with fizzy pop and a dance mat plugged into the television and Haknyeon is certain he heard Longguo mention something to do with a game of Pass the Parcel.

“Isn't it nice to make a new friend?”

“He's not my friend,” Haknyeon says.

“Are any of these people your friends?” Sangyeon asks. Of course they are Haknyeon's friends! He wouldn't invite a bunch if strangers to Sangyeon and Longguo’s flat to make a nuisance and disturb the cats!

Maybe when Mina pressed a scruffily wrapped package into his chest she hissed, “I am going to kill you for making me waste my money on you,” but that was simply the usual banter. She seems to be having fun now, as she samples all the canapés that Haknyeon had googled recipes for over the weekend.

“They’re all people from my classes,” Haknyeon says delicately. “That kid hasn’t even been going to high school for long enough to have met half of these people.”

“Wasn’t it the same for you last year?” Sangyeon asks. “Isn’t that why you invited everyone here? To show me that you aren’t a loser who doesn’t have anyone other than his handsome and brilliant snowboarding teacher to eat cake with unlike last year.”

“When I tell my sister that you called me a loser she is going to beat you up,” Haknyeon huffs. Sangyeon laughs and pats Haknyeon’s knee. “Will you film it for me if she does?”

“What kind of pervert are you?”

Sangyeon clips Haknyeon around the ear and says, “I still haven’t forgotten the time she tried to end my career and pushed me over on that mountain.”

Haknyeon rubs the back of his head and touches his ear gingerly, the sting making him wince. “It’s my birthday, you know. My sister really will beat you up now that you’ve hit me.”

“And that’s why you’re not going to tell her, right?” Sangyeon says, still smiling. Haknyeon frowns.

This is the worst birthday ever. Haknyeon wants to go home and complain to his sister but she won’t be home for hours (that is the whole reason he has to host his party at his neighbours’ flat in the first place) so he is stuck here watching Ahin embarrassedly bobbing along to some atrocious dance routine Joowon and Naeun put together to make Hyunjoon laugh.

It is great that Hyunjoon has so much to laugh about. Fantastic, even! He can just go right ahead and steal Haknyeon’s birthday and steal all of Haknyeon’s friends and presents and not get hit because he is apparently just that cute. Haknyeon used to be that cute too. His sister still dotes on him now but as a blood relative that is her purpose (even if there is another blood relative who is objectively even cuter than Haknyeon is) but even beyond her his older friends tell him he is cute and request that he throws hearts their way and asks very nicely for things. But it looks as though Hyunjoon is ready to take on that role. If Sangyeon and Longguo aren’t won over by now it will only take Jaehyun regarding Hyunjoon calmly before declaring him the cutest in the world before suddenly every lovely and wonderful superlative belongs to him. Haknyeon knows it is going to happen and he hasn’t ever been more certain of anything.

It was only last year when Haknyeon found himself in the predicament of having no friends at his new school who liked him enough to accept the invitation to his neighbour’s flat for a small party - though upon reflection Haknyeon is now more sure that the rejections had something to do with how sketchy it sounded that he was inviting everyone to his neighbour’s flat rather than his own and nobody knew him well enough to decide it wasn’t some trafficking trap - and his sister had forgotten to book time off work to spend the day with him. All Haknyeon had back then were the young men in the flat next door who regarded him warily just in case Haknyeon was like his sister and had a murderous streak and tried to push them over the balcony (Haknyeon will admit that his sister has racked up half a dozen infractions against both Sangyeon and Yongguk so their apprehension when she demanded they not only buy him a present but also throw him a party was warranted).

It was Jaehyun who had invited himself over and been entirely confused the whole time he spoke to Haknyeon before announcing, “I don’t think this kid is trying to kill any of us!”

Jaehyun got hit for apparently exposing the collective fear but the rest of them warmed up to Hakyeon quickly after that. The same thing is sure to happen with Hyunjoon. When Jaehyun inevitably invites himself over, after stumbling his way through initial confusion he is sure to meet Hyunjoon and loudly tell him that Haknyeon is very petty and jealous but because Hyunjoon is a cute kid they should try to get along. Haknyeon has a feeling things will happen like that. This isn’t one of those good birthdays where things go Haknyeon’s way and everything is wonderful from the weather to an extra chocolate bar dropping out of a vending machine for him.

Sangyeon leaves Haknyeon alone to sort out the dispute Longguo is having with his cat in the kitchen regarding the number of candles that should be put on the cake. At this point Haknyeon doesn’t care whether there are sixteen or seventeen candles on the cake because no amount of candles are going to grant him the wish of having his birthday back. He probably won’t even get to blow out the candles. That will be a duty left to Hyunjoon just like entertaining all the guests is. Haknyeon is midway through mentally cursing Hyunjoon’s wish when they make eye contact.

Haknyeon quickly looks away but Hyunjoon disappears into the kitchen and reappears with a gift bag in his hands which he hold out to Haknyeon.

“What’s this?” Haknyeon asks. He knows exactly what it looks like but it is better to be certain about things like this.

“It’s a present,” Hyunjoon says. Of course. Haknyeon doesn't have a present for Hyunjoon. He didn’t think this was a thing that should happen but here is Hyunjoon really making a case for himself as a cute kid everyone should dote on.

“I didn't get you anything,” Haknyeon admits quietly. Hyunjoon shrugs and sits beside Haknyeon as though the invitation had been extended.

“I didn't think that you would. I just wanted to thank you for letting me share your party,” Hyunjoon says. “I really wanted to have a party even if it was just with a few friends but the friends I did make ended up being yours. But you still let me join in.”

Haknyeon frowns at the gift bag in his lap. He hasn't let Hyunjoon share his party at all. All day he has been complaining to anyone who will listen about how his birthday has been unfairly stolen from him. But Hyunjoon is smiling softly and Haknyeon supposes that he might agree with him being cute if he insists on being so genuine about things. He decides to be mature and call a truce. He holds out his hand and when Hyunjoon tentatively slides his hand into the grip to shake, Haknyeon says, “friends?”

Hyunjoon nods quickly. “I would love to be friends!”

Haknyeon feels bad about not having a present to give to Hyunjoon but he doesn't feel guilty enough to give the present back. In fact it would be far ruder to refuse a gift which is overflowing with the sincere and heartfelt feelings of a sixteen year old baby.

Inside there is a fat pink cuddly toy. Haknyeon feels even worse for not getting Hyunjoon a present.

“It's a pig,” Haknyeon says.

“Yeah,” Hyunjoon says. then he frowns and adds, “Sunwoo said that you like pigs. He wasn't playing a trick on me, was he?”

Sunwoo wasn't playing a trick on Hyunjoon at all. In fact Haknyeon already has a doll just like this on his bed. Tiffany (because she is so lovely and pink) will be so happy to have a new fluffy sibling!

“I love it, thank you!” Haknyeon says. He is at a loss because he doesn't have anything to give so he opens his arms and hopes Hyunjoon doesn't mind receiving a hug from someone who has talked a lot about hating him for no reason at all. Hyunjoon clearly doesn't mind because he squeezes Haknyeon tightly. It is a nice hug and this feels like even more of a present than the pig.

When Hyunjoon pulls away he looks pretty and pink and Haknyeon hopes that he isn't too hurt by Haknyeon being awful to him on his birthday.

“I think,” Haknyeon says very precisely because he wants Hyunjoon to understand, “I want you to blow out the candles on the cake. I think you will make a much better wish than I would.”

Hyunjoon gets even pinker, raspberry crushes across his cheeks, and he says, “My wish has already come true.”

That doesn't sound right. Haknyeon really doesn't have anything else to give Hyunjoon so he will really feel awful if this gesture doesn't get accepted.

“Think of another wish then.”

“I don't think there is anything else I want. Today I got to have a party and people have been so nice to me and I think I have made lots of new friends already. Oh.”

“What is it?” Haknyeon asks.

“Are we friends, Haknyeon? If we aren't friends am I allowed to wish for that?”

Haknyeon doesn't understand at all. They shook hands to confirm they were friends just moments ago. But if he still isn't sure Haknyeon won't blame him. Suddenly Haknyeon isn't being as rude as usual, so of course it is natural to be suspicious of the claim now. But Haknyeon supposes he has done more than his fair share of sulking so he should be better to Hyunjoon from now on.

“We are friends. You don't need to wish for that.”

Hyunjoon relaxes at that and smiles to himself. “Are you sure we're friends. Eric said you hate me because I made you lose the love of your life.”

Irritation flares in the back of Haknyeon's mind but he is mature enough to push that aside. “That was only part of the reason.”

“Alright. But it was the person who gave you those sweets on Friday wasn't it? Eric told me that's what Sunwoo said. If I wish for you to find the love of your life again you won't hate me anymore, right?”

“I don't hate you now,” Haknyeon sighs. He will need to have words with Sunwoo. Haknyeon was probably exaggerating about that stranger being the love of his life. He wasn't but Haknyeon knows how stupid it is to say things like that so he needs to make sure Sunwoo stops telling people the stupid things he says. Even so, Hyunjoon looks troubled by it so perhaps he doesn't think Haknyeon is stupid. Haknyeon hopes he appreciates the returned favour of, “Do you want me to wish for you to find the love of your life too?”

Hyunjoon shakes his head quickly. “Rather than that if you want to do a wish for me can you wish for me to go to the Olympics in Tokyo. I am doing really well with my horse riding so I think I could do it.”

Haknyeon hadn't expected to hear anything like that. “You want to go to the Olympics? Like, to compete?”

“Yeah!” Hyunjoon looks so happy just thinking about it that Haknyeon has no clue why the kid would waste a wish on Haknyeon finding the love of his life when he has his own dream.

“Shouldn't we both wish for that? That sounds a lot cooler than trying to find me a cute boy.”

“If I make wishes for it I won't work as hard. That's why we have to be friends, so that I have someone even though most days I won't be able to hang out with people. And if we are friends and you do this wish for me I will take you with me.”

Haknyeon smiles. “You'll take me with you? Will you tell everyone you won because of me too?”

Hyunjoon shakes his head. “I won't win because of you. I will win because of my own efforts. I just get there because of you and I won't forget to tell everyone about it. Just like when you find the love of your life again you have to tell him it is because I made this wish for you. Deal?”

Hyunjoon holds his hand out and Haknyeon is already charmed into shaking on the deal. There are worse deals he has shook hands on such as the time two years ago when he and Sunwoo agreed to make a mudcake for their wedding and make sure the people they liked the most had the least decapitated worms in their slices.

The problem with this deal occurs when Mina casually asks Hyunjoon what he wished for and he tells her without batting an eyelash. Haknyeon later thanks Sangyeon for holding him back from destroying two friendships in one day even though he cries about his shattered wish for an hour when everyone leaves.


End file.
